Home / Features / Columns / Revisiting This Phenomenal Piece Of Magic – Naiad – Hardcore Emotion [Japan]

Revisiting This Phenomenal Piece Of Magic – Naiad – Hardcore Emotion [Japan]

By on April 25, 2019

We don’t know where we were back in the early 2000’s when this band mysteriously dropped into our lives. We were already head over heels in love with the more emotional type of hardcore that was storming out of Japan – bands like Endzweck, Envy, etc. But when this highly technical version of emotional hardcore came out, something grabbed us like never before.

naiad is an emotional band. Sure, the music can be heavy, and the screams can be piercing in all its glory, but at the heart of the band, they are an emotional through whose music you find unbelievable solace. The band often gets compared to Shai Hulud/Strongarm/Grade. But when you listen to the music and the seamless way they can straddle the sounds of Shai Hulud and Christie Front Drive sometimes all in one song, you hear something much more unique. Something that isn’t easily identifiable.

Except for the fact that whatever you’re listening to is great.

Many years ago we were lucky to be able to see naiad live in front of our eyes when they traveled to Hong Kong for a show.

We were not prepared for where the band was going to take us. The tears that formed couldn’t be faked. There was something magical about the tones they used, the notes that they painted their music with, the vocalist’s sheer destruction of his vocal chords to make us feel what he was feeling. It was a night of emotions that went from aggressive to thoughtful…very few bands have left that deep of a mark on us.

Check out a live video of the band live further below and you can get just the TINIEST glimpse of how powerful this band’s stage presence was.

After the release of this album, the band followed it up writing a heart-wrenching number for the guitarist of Last One Standing who passed away. That song is also streaming further below…

Also further below is the band’s demo from 2001. DAYUM.

Shortly after all this…the band broke up.

If ANYONE knows what the members are up to now please let us know! If anyone from naiad is reading this – we want to thank you for the music you created that still stands up today as one of the most emotional releases from this side of the planet.

Thank you naiad.

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